Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Sweethearts

You're all probably thinking from the title that this is going to be some mushy post about my wonderful husband. Ha! Tricked you. Although I do love him and think he's great, this post is about Becca.

Last week Becca tried out for her school Sweethearts' queen. Each club nominated someone from their club to participate, and Becca was chosen by her club. She was a bit nervous about doing it and if she would be embarrassed, but I told her if she thought it would be fun to go for it! It's her senior year, after all. :)

So, on Monday there was a pie-eating contest -- Becca finished about mid-way through the group:

Tuesday she had to milk a cow. She's scarred and promises not to drink milk for a month. It doesn't help that they had them milk the cow from behind (um, wrong way folks!) so the cow pooped on her arm. It also helped even less that every time the cow moved even an inch Becca got startled and splashed milk up onto herself, meaning she had to replace that milk so her cup would be full. Needless to say, she came in last by far and took a nice, hot shower when she got home:

Wednesday they designed boutineers. I was hoping it was going to be a whole floral arrangement, because this is a task she could have used her artsy brain to make something great! But they obviously couldn't afford flowers for 20 girls, so each one got to make only a small arrangement. She still did a good job:

Thursday was the cake-decorating. I really tried to press her into doing something a little fancier, but she insisted the sheep she wanted to do would be cute. It was. But she came home feeling really stupid, because all of the other girls' cakes were phenomenal. Oh well -- lesson learned? Mother truly does know best. ;)

Oh, I should mention that the theme was "Holding out for a hero" and it is hosted by the FFA. So Becca's cake is a combo of using an ag animal and the theme together.

On Friday there was an assembly where they had to do a relay race against teachers. Becca beat her teacher with the roping and running combo:

And then the girls had to dress up in their dresses and auction off their cakes. This part made me EXTREMELY nervous. Becca was already to the point where she decided she was embarrassed over the whole thing. She knew the girls would be sitting in the stands judging her dress (just as she said she's done every other year), and she was afraid nobody would bid on her cake. I was really not feeling like spending $20 for a cake, but I was feeling like I might need to dish out to save some humiliation. Then again, is that humiliating if your mom is the one to buy the cake? Oh, the stress on a teen girl and her mother!!! But it was her choice to participate, so at least it was self-inflicted stress for her.

Good news -- she had several bidders on her cake. And although her cake went for the lowest amount of them all, there was another cake sold for the same amount and one for only a few dollars more. PHEW! She was embarrassed b/c there was a mix-up with someone winning and then saying they hadn't bid that high, but a REALLY awesome boy stepped up to the auctioneer almost immediately and said he would buy the cake for the higher price. I need to hunt down that boy and thank him profusely for saving her more embarrassment. (The whole thing was really so fast that I had to ask the person next to me what had happened, and I had been watching because it was Becca. I assured her of this multiple times when she got home and was embarrassed by it.) I seriously had been really stressed all night and morning thinking about it.

I was really happy to see that it was students buying their peers' cakes. I was afraid parents would come in and drive up the prices for their own daughters' cakes. (It happened when I was in high school, only it was lunch baskets, not cakes. And no, I did not participate! I was never as bold as Becca is.) I guess that worrying was for naught. I don't think I saw one parent/grandparent buy a cake. I was so glad to see that.

Anyway, here she is introducing her cake. Yes, her eyes are closed, but I used this picture anyway so you can try to see some of the other cakes in the background (my boys would love that R2-D2 cake!):

Anyway, Becca decided it wasn't as fun as she thought it would be, but she felt like she got to serve a few people along the way so it had been worth it. She's great at thinking of others and helping them out when needed (sometimes to a fault :).

Saturday was the dance! Becca asked a great guy in our ward. When they arrived here for dinner, I couldn't believe how they all matched without planning it:

She had fun at the dance, so at least her Sweethearts week finished off well:

And one last little proud moment. The girls in our ward generally wear their dance dresses the day after a dance. However, we read in the New Era back in the fall that this is discouraged as it draws attention to you (which actually is what modesty is supposed to avoid), and it points out which girls didn't get asked to a dance. So, Becca showed up to church Sunday morning in her plain ol' Sunday clothes. Other girls wore their beautiful dresses as usual. I asked her if she felt weird not wearing her dress, but she said she was more concerned about what to say when the girls who knew she went to Sweethearts asked her why she wasn't in her dress. Turns out she was honest when they asked (which they did), and the girls wearing their dresses didn't take offense. As I looked at those girls in their beautiful dresses, I thought of how much more beautiful Becca was in following the counsel of the prophet. She is a good girl. :)

About Us

Brown Inc. was formed in 2000 with the merger of Paul Brown and Denise Palmer. Its first product, Tyler, was released in 2001. Second product Zachary was released in 2003. Product Becca Brown, which was released in 1994 by a sister company, was acquired in 2005 by Brown Inc. and made a permanent part of the company in 2009. Shayla was Brown Inc.’s third internally developed product in 2006. Fifth product Austin was released in 2010. Brown Inc., which specializes in adorable children, is based in Utah.